between women and predatory sexual aggression, did not consider herself to be a lesbian. Dwyer made no such distinction, and to prevent him or others from reading her private letters, Van Waters burned most of her 22-year correspondence with Thompson in June 1948. Crisis: 1948–1949 In response to Dwyer's report, in June 1948 McDowell reduced Van Waters' authority, and the state legislature established an investigative committee to hold hearings on the matter after the 1948 elections in November. During the summer and fall, State Senator Michael Lopresti, Van Waters' most vocal detractor on the committee, likened her methods to those of communist regimes that ruled with an "iron hand", and he denounced her administration as "more damaging to the morals and mental health of young girls" than prostitution. Meanwhile, Van Waters' allies created Friends of the Framingham Reformatory, a committee that raised funds for Van Waters's defense and hired Claude Cross, a Harvard-trained lawyer, as chief counsel. An initial public hearing in November resolved nothing, and in December McDowell announced his intention to fire Van Waters in January, when office-holders, including a new governor, began their terms. This threat led to widespread statements of support for Van Waters by a variety of organizations such as Americans for Democratic Action, the Women's City Club of Boston, the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the Massachusetts Association of Social Hygiene, and individuals such as Eleanor Roosevelt. On January 7, 1949, McDowell, listing 27 charges against her, fired Van Waters effective January 11. Van Waters, denying the charges, cited her legal right to an appeal, which McDowell granted. The subsequent hearing, for which McDowell was the judge as well as one of the examiners, began on January 13, 1949. Believing that McDowell would rule against her, Van Waters, Cross, and other supporters used the proceedings as a platform to present her to the public as an exemplary person and to promote her methods of penal reform. In both goals, they succeeded. The case drew national attention, and an audience of hundreds of people per session attended what some newspaper reports likened to the Scopes monkey trial. Freedman writes: The audience so often took an active role in the hearings that McDowell threatened to clear the auditorium if they did not cease their laughter, applause, or derisive sounds. Housewives, off-duty reformatory staff members, college students, workers on their lunch breaks, and friends filled the auditorium each